Many parents mistakenly believe that speech and language disorders can be resolved solely through speech therapy.
However, language developmental issues often represent just the tip of the iceberg of broader developmental concerns.
Treatment Referral Pathway
Luxmed Speech Therapy Services Professional assessment and personalized training in
01 Language ability
02 Articulation
03 Speech fluency
04 Voice health
05 Oral motor skills
06 Swallowing function
Speech therapy alone may not address the root cause of language issues. A comprehensive evaluation by a pediatrician is essential to determine the underlying causes and develop an appropriate, personalized treatment plan that may involve multiple specialists.
Speech and Language Impairment Assessment
Preliminary AssessmentHK$1200
Including:
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1. Pediatrician Consultation
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2. Speech Therapist screening Assessment
Speech delay has multiple underlying causes requiring professional medical diagnosis:
Understanding speech is the first step for language acquisition. Spoken language is processed in auditory cortex, while written language and sign language are processed in visual cortex.
Cortical maldevelopment is one of the reason leading to language delay. In the cerebral cortex, Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area are responsible for speech production and speech comprehension respectively.
Function:
Language comprehension
Matches incoming information with stored vocabulary
Assigns meaning to words
Function:
Speech production connected via arcuate fasciculus
Controls motor cortex for speech muscles
Another brain region is found to be essentially important to language comprehension, which is the Geschwind’s Territory in inferior parietal lobule.
Integrates multiple sensory inputs
Auditory
Visual
Tactile
Functions of the brain regions in cerebral cortex
Language comprehension, match incoming information with stored vocabulary, assign meaning to words
Speech production, controls motor cortex for speech muscles
Integrates multiple sensory inputs, link different words elements
Right-handed People Example
Evidence-based practice in Speech Therapy
Using PROMPT therapy as an example, treatment leads to changes in the brain across 3 levels.
PROMPT therapy, published in 1981 by Canadian Speech-Language Pathologist Chumpelk Hayden, has evolved through over 30 years of clinical practice and validation into a comprehensive system for helping children redevelop language abilities. This system employs tactile stimulation methods using pressure, positioning, and timing to enhance neuromuscular coordination, thereby promoting oral motor skills.
Which pediatric patients benefit from PROMPT therapy?
01 Language ability
02 Articulation
03 Speech fluency
Children with speech production disorders, articulation disorders, apraxia of speech, or any combination of these conditions can benefit from PROMPT system interventions.
The oral muscular restructuring performed by speech
therapists is not only supported by literature but also results
in three distinct changes in the patient’s brain
post-treatment.
Please contact us for enquiries on further treatment approaches
photo credit to Namasivayam A. K. (2019, July). The PROMPT approach: A meta-analysis of effects, efficacy and efficiency. Apraxia Kids National Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.
Research demonstrates three levels of brain changes following PROMPT therapy:
PROMPT therapy, as one of the speech therapy protocols, has been scientifically shown to alter brain structure, validating its effectiveness.
These brain changes can be observed through brain imaging technology (PET scan). Changes occur in both neuronal connections and neuronal firing patterns.
Today, advanced brain imaging technology (PET scan) allows real-time visualization of activated brain regions.
This evidence demonstrates that appropriate speech therapy protocols directly influence brain structure. Accurate diagnosis by physicians, identification of underlying causes, and selection of suitable treatment protocols are crucial for pediatric patients.
To comprehensively and accurately assess children’s capabilities and develop the most appropriate individualized treatment plans, speech therapists utilize the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001, to evaluate each case.
According to the ICF framework, an individual’s health status must be considered not only from a medical perspective (e.g., body functions and structures) but also from social aspects (e.g., activity and participation restrictions, environmental and personal factors). The ICF framework is applicable across various rehabilitation treatments, services, and policies, and has been implemented in different regions including Australia, Taiwan, and Japan.
Speech Therapist's Scope of Work
Speech Therapist Assessment and Treatment Targets Include:
Language Disorders
Language disorders refer to children’s language development being slower than their peers. Some cases are related to biomedical conditions such as Hearing Impairment, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, and Cerebral Palsy.
Hearing Impairment
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Intellectual Disability
Cerebral Palsy
Some cases have unknown causes, possibly influenced by environmental factors or insufficient language stimulation. (When such conditions are identified, immediate referrals are made to the child development team’s pediatricians, psychiatrists, and clinical psychologists for follow-up.)
Speech Sound Disorders
Delayed phonological development
Oral motor incoordination
Hearing impairment
Delayed phonological development, oral motor incoordination, and hearing impairment can all lead to inaccurate articulation. Speech therapists guide children to produce correct speech sounds through articulation exercises and enhance phonological awareness.
Weak Oral Motor Skills
Oral sensitivity
Oral muscle tone
Movement ability
Flexibility and coordination
Children’s oral motor abilities can affect their feeding ability, swallowing capacity, and speech clarity. Speech therapists assess children’s oral sensitivity, muscle tone, movement ability, flexibility, and coordination to design appropriate oral motor training activities and feeding recommendations.
Weak Social Communication Skills
Social rules and pragmatic skills
Some children have weak communication skills, such as difficulty understanding others’ facial expressions and challenges in social activities with peers. Speech therapists guide children in establishing appropriate social rules and pragmatic skills, using modeling and simulation of different scenarios to guide children in using appropriate social skills for communication.
Poor Speech Fluency
During the preschool stage, many children experience “pseudo-stuttering.” During this phase, their language abilities are developing rapidly, and with increasing life experiences, their expressive abilities may not match what they want to communicate, resulting in difficulty expressing longer and more complex sentences clearly. Speech may appear broken and disfluent. This condition usually only lasts for about two months before gradually disappearing. However, if the condition persists for more than six months or worsens, and if children over 5 years old still frequently show these symptoms, parents should immediately seek professional advice from qualified speech therapists.
Voice disorder
Hoarse voice
Pitch instability
Improper voice use, excessive talking, or speaking too rapidly can affect voice quality, resulting in hoarseness and unstable pitch. Speech therapists provide voice care advice while guiding appropriate breathing techniques and correcting voice production methods.
Reading and Writing Disorders
Reading and writing disorders refer to students showing significant discrepancies in reading and writing abilities compared to their peers. Common symptoms include: obvious difficulties in character recognition, frequent writing errors such as adding or omitting strokes, confusing character orientation, and mixing up homophonic characters. Speech therapists enhance students’ literacy skills through engaging activities based on their individual abilities.
After medical assessment, speech therapists focus on evaluating the following:
According to the Zone of Proximal Development Theory, each child has different abilities and potential development zones. Speech therapists identify during assessment what type of assistance can enhance the child’s abilities. Subsequently, based on the child’s current abilities and needs, appropriate prompts are provided as scaffolding support. As the child progresses, speech therapists gradually reduce support in sessions, enabling the child to ultimately achieve goals independently.
In training sessions, speech therapists conduct training based on evidence-based practice principles, combining clinical experience with latest research to make the most accurate diagnosis and design the most appropriate personalized treatment plans. Treatment approaches are listed in the table below:These approaches are used to train various aspects including speech, fluency, voice health, oral motor skills, and swallowing abilities.
- Fey’s child speech and language intervention model
- Picture Exchange CommunicationSystem (PECS)
- Hanen Program®
- Traditional Phonetic Treatment approaches
- Tactile-Kinesthetic approach, e.g. PROMPT
- Phonological treatment approaches
- Oral motor placement therapyapproach, e.g. OPT
- Lidcombe Program
- Lessac-Madsen Resonant Voice Therapy (LMRVT)
- Casper-Stone Confidential Flow Therapy (CSCFT)
- Adventures in Voice
Speech Therapist’s Approach
Please contact us for enquiries on further treatment approaches
Service Highlights
One-Stop Professional Team Integration
Service Process
Assessment Process
3 Steps and 6 Domains
Detailed analysis is essential to identify issues and provide targeted treatment
Domain 1
Pre-linguistic Skills
★ Eye contact, Turn-taking, Object permanence, Object concepts (matching, categorization, tool use)
★ Joint attention: Response and initiation (ability to use eye gaze or gestures to direct adult attention)
★ Imitation skills: Body language, vocal sounds
★ Play skills: Cause-effect, manipulative toys, functional, constructive, symbolic (single or multiple steps)
★ Social stages of play (observing children’s behavior during play to understand social development, including solitary play, parallel play, associative play, cooperative play)
Domain 2
Social Communication/Pragmatics
★ Initiation of conversation
★ Topic maintenance skills
★ Appropriateness of content in different contexts with different people
★ Language function and purpose
★ Disordered behavior observation: restricted interests, echolalia, impulsivity, rigid behaviors
Domain 3
Language Comprehension
★ Vocabulary understanding (e.g., daily items, animals, fruit names)
★ Question comprehension (age-based analysis, e.g., yes/no questions for 2-2.5 years, “where/who” questions for 2.5-3 years)
★ Concept understanding e.g., 1.5-2 years (in/out), 3-4 years (hot/cold)
★ Command comprehension (understanding different sentence types)
Domain 4
Language Production
★ Vocabulary size and categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns)
★ Syntax: Sentence complexity and structure; conjunction usage
★ Higher-order language skills
★ Narrative skills (story content and organization)
Domain 5
Articulation
★ Clarity of pronunciation (initial consonants, vowels, diphthongs, final consonants) and tonal usage
Domain 6
Oral Motor Examination
★ Oral sensitivity
★ Structure (e.g., jaw height, dentition, facial symmetry)
★ Movement ability (jaw, lips, tongue mobility, coordination, flexibility)
★ Muscle tone (jaw, lips, tongue)
If speech dysfluency or abnormal voice quality in child are observed by speech therapist, further assessment on speech fluency and voice quality would be conducted. By evaluating language development with age equivalent, standard score and percentile rank, as well as identifying root causes of language impairment, are crucial to provide effective and optimal treatment for the pediatric patient.
Speech therapy is a professional intervention targeting language, pronunciation, communication, or swallowing disorders. If your child has difficulties in language expression, comprehension, pronunciation, or social communication, speech therapy can help them. We provide professional assessments to help parents quickly determine whether their child needs intervention.
We offer one-stop services, where a pediatrician conducts an initial assessment and directly refers the child to a speech therapist, avoiding long waiting times and seizing the golden period of language development. Our therapists create personalized treatment plans based on the child’s individual needs to ensure optimal results.
Parents can observe whether their child shows significant delays in language expression, comprehension, pronunciation, or social communication. Our professional team provides comprehensive assessments covering pre-language skills, language comprehension, expressive abilities, and pronunciation skills to help parents accurately understand their child’s condition.
Our therapists conduct detailed assessments to understand the child’s abilities, interests, and developmental stages. Based on the Zone of Proximal Development theory, we tailor a personalized treatment plan for each child to ensure the therapy meets their actual needs.
We use a variety of internationally recognized assessment tools, such as the Hong Kong Preschool Oral Language Assessment (TOPOL) and the Hong Kong Cantonese Oral Language Assessment Scale (HKCOLAS), to ensure accurate and reliable results.
We provide one-stop services, starting with a comprehensive examination by a pediatric specialist to rule out cognitive, comprehension, or other health issues. If necessary, the child is referred to a speech therapist for a professional assessment, and a personalized treatment plan is designed based on the results.
Our services cover language abilities, articulation, speech fluency, swallowing abilities, vocal health, and oral motor functions, providing comprehensive support for children’s speech development needs.
PROMPT therapy is suitable for children with speech sound disorders, articulation difficulties, or childhood apraxia of speech, especially those who need to improve oral-motor coordination and pronunciation clarity.
Our speech therapists regularly communicate with parents, explaining the child’s assessment results and treatment progress in detail. We also provide practical home training suggestions to help parents support their child’s speech development in daily life.
Our speech therapists hold internationally and Hong Kong-recognized certifications and have extensive clinical experience, enabling them to provide high-quality therapy services for children with diverse needs.
Yes, we offer personalized treatment plans for children with autism, combining a multidisciplinary approach to help them improve in language expression, social communication, and oral motor functions.
This translation maintains the original meaning while adapting the language for an English-speaking audience.
